Messaging app Line now suggests relevant stickers and emoji as you type

Update: Today, the same feature was added to the Line for iOS app. While typing, you should now see a series of auto-suggested stickers and emoji just above the on-screen keyboard. Hoorah!

Original: Line’s growing catalog of free and paid-for sticker packs help it to differentiate from other popular messaging apps; now it gives reminders when you have the perfect sticker to use in a conversation.

With version 4.6 of its Android app, Line will now suggest stickers to use in real-time. Whenever you type a word or phrase that matches some of its colorful stamps, it will become bold and underlined, triggering a small sticker panel to appear on top. They’re small representations – so your conversation won’t be crowded out – and you can swipe horizontally if there’s more than one page.

It’s a small feature, but one that should benefit both Line and its community. As a user you’re now reminded to use stickers – which, if you’ve paid for packs in the past means you’ll get better value for money – and it also gives Line a window to upsell new stickers. The company doesn’t appear to be doing this just yet, but it’s not hard to imagine how Line could utilize this area in the future.

If this feature sounds irritating to you, it can be turned off in the app’s settings. Line says it’ll be bringing it to iOS users in due course.

As part of today’s update, Line also added a shortcut for Premium Calls – its service for dialling domestic and international numbers – as well as support for Arabic, and the option to forward messages to multiple people at once.